Locals Want Landmark Status For Fire-Ravaged Red Hook Warehouse

RED HOOK, BROOKLYN — Weeks after a "highly suspicious" fire tore through a century-old Red Hook warehouse, locals started a new petition to get the city to landmark the spot before it's completely destroyed.

The petition calls to protect the S.W. Bowne Grain Storehouse, built in 1886, after it was damaged in a two-alarm fire and the city issued a stop work order to developers because of unpermitted demolition work.

"This two alarm fire, fought from land and water, arrived at the same time as efforts to landmark the structure were advancing," locals wrote in the petition. "Sadly, the roof was ravaged by the fire shortly after."

Locals first started a push to landmark the 595-611 Smith St. building in May as part of a larger effort to protect buildings around Gowanus and Red Hook in the wake of a rezoning.

Preservationists feared owners the Chetrit Group wanted to tear it down for apartments after they spotted workers with axes on the roof last month.

A week later, a fire erupted inside the warehouse late night on June 14 and took nearly 100 firefighters more than an hour to quell the flames, the FDNY said. The building was vacant at the time and fire officials were investigating the cause of the blaze.

Councilman Carlos Menchaca called the blaze "highly suspicious" and called on the city to review permits and violations for the building afterward.

"I also place the owners of this property on notice: I will not allow demolition by neglect or fire to prompt zoning changes that allow residential or other non-manufacturing uses at this site in Red Hook's Industrial Business Zone," Menchaca said.

Days after the blaze, the Department of Buildings issued a stop work order on the property because demolition work was being done on the building without a permit, city records show.

The S.W. Bowne Grain Storehouse was built when Red Hook served as a global shipping hub and remained a warehouse until it was abandoned in the 1960s, Curbed New York reported.

CF Smith LLC and Red Hook Developers Holding LLC, both registered in Delaware, bought the spot for $14.5 million along with several others nearby in 2007, records show.

Permits filed to the DOB last year list Jacob Chetrit, founder of the Chetrit Group, as Red Hook Developers Holding's owner and his brother Meyer Chetrit as the owner of the warehouse.

The Chetrit Group previously demolished three buildings on the Smith Street lot, but only filed permits for one and records don't show any were approved by the city, Brownstoner reported.

The DOB issued a $5,000 violation in 2017 because the building's dangerous, crumbling structure and another $1,500 fine in December when developer's didn't repair the damage, city records show.

Manchaca previously said the Chetrit Group neglected the buildings for years and it's been a constant source of complaints to his office from locals.

"Before the fire, my office was engaged with issues like sub-standard fencing, decrepit sidewalk sheds, unpermitted construction and demolition, and illegal dumping there," Menchaca said.

Image: FDNY/Twitter